I have not entered a new symptom for 2 weeks, so here goes…
I went to the Podiatrist today to get new orthotics, my set wore out in just two years, the doctor was surprised, said they usually last longer. I explained that I have burning feet from Erythromelalgia, and I tend to make shoes fall apart faster. I complained about cramping in my very high arch, she asked if I wanted to make them softer, I showed her that the arch support was not even touching, you could put your finger between it and the arch. We figured out my arch is getting higher, over 1/2" in 2 years. So she is going to have the new orthotics made with a higher arch support.
She mentioned that stretching the calf will help with the cramping, I explained that my condition has tension in the calf muscles, either from Fibro or PsA, it does get worse the last week of my remicade cycle, so I am thinking autoimmune.
I had a funny story, I was getting orthotics made from a old podiatrist, I told him I had tight calf muscles and always had tension, when he was making the cast, he told me to relax the foot, I said I couldn’t, he started yelling at me that “I better not ruin his cast!” doctors can be so stupid sometimes…
Does anyone have high arch foot problems? how about tight painful calf muscles?
Just on the cramp thing … (though I do have high arches) … thanks to tntlamb I now have a serious banana habit. So much so that I get a mini-panic attack if we run out of bananas. They did seem to help with cramp for a while.
Then the cramp came back with a vengeance. Biologics nurse suggested I ask my GP for quinine, but a friend suggested Gin & tonic. I can’t do gin without (probably) risking arrest so I have just started drinking tonic water which contains natural quinine, or so it says on the label, and it does seem to be making a significant difference.
Except officially my levels of these elements are normal. ‘Officially’ 'cos sometimes we hear that so-called normal levels of things may still not be a true optimum. What to believe eh?
The one single thing every rheumy and rheumy nurse I’ve seen have in common is that they say inflammatory arthritis patients get a lot of cramp & they don’t really know why that is. My cramps are often mega, can be 5 times a night.
A lot of time the vitamin is not optimized, they are telling you to take the lowest level on the scale, like Vitamin D, my doctor had me at the high end of the scale, if it is 30-70, I go for the 70…
I think I’ve said this before but in addition to the supplements, quinine with or without the gin, and bananas etc sleeping with a cheap, scented, dry bar of soap can also help. As in buy one from the supermarket, take its covering off and just put the bar in the bed and sleep with it.
@AngieB. The dry bar of soap in a bed is an old wives tale to stop leg cramps. I started to suffer them and a friend of mine in the USA suggested it. So given it’s so harmless I gave it a go and lo and behold it works for me. Google it.
Ok wow! I’m going to have to try that. Just any soap? Or only the store bought kind?
Most of the old wives tales are based on some scientific stuff but they just didn’t know it. Lol
Ah yes, the bar of soap… my mother sleeps with Irish Spring. Says it works (and that’s a cheap bar) Sometimes old wives know what they are talking about…
Got my new Drew Sandals, the old ones wore out after a few years… They discontinued the only ones that worked for me, as they have straps on the instep, funny they will sell 6E wide sandals, but not make them tall enough for my high instep! I was lucky to get 2 pair for half price, they are 1/2 to long, but I can use them as snow shoes if I go to the mountains next winter…
They are usually $160.00 a pair! The nice thing about them, they are deep, so will take custom orthotics without slipping out. I was thinking of buying the last two pair and stashing them in a hermetically sealed container for a couple of years until I need them…
And there is nothing wrong with that. Just the other day I bought 2pair of both jeans and a top that fit me well. They are both nicely wrapped in plastic for when I need them in a year or twos time
